asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will make a statement showing what progress has been made by the White Fish Authority in its costings investigation into distant-water fishing.

The White Fish Authority has received completed questionnaires covering the great majority of distant-water vessels. The Authority is analysing these returns and hopes to publish a summary of the results in its next Annual Report.

In the Report of the White Fish Authority, 1952, the promise was made to get something out about this disparity in prices between what is paid at the ports and in the shops. Why has it taken this length of time, until 1955, to obtain this information?

The hon. Member knows that the White Fish Authority has already made investigations over quite a wide field. This is the distant-water section about which we are now talking, and the answer which I have given shows him, I think, that investigations there are very well advanced.

Would my right hon. Friend agree that the willingness to produce accounts shown by the distant-water section of the industry has not been followed by the retailers?

The British Trawlers' Federation offered to provide information about costs and earnings on every one of its vessels, and that information has been obtained in respect of 273 vessels.

Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether any costings have been received from any section of the retailers?

That is rather a different question, and I should like notice of it.

asked the Minister of Agriculture for what reason powers under Section 11 of the Sea Fish Industry Act, 1951, were used in connection with the investigation into the prices and profits in the fish industry.

These powers have not yet been used for this purpose but are available to the White Fish Authority, which is preparing a sample investigation.

Is the Minister not aware that the Report of the White Fish Authority dated 31st March, 1953, makes it clear that catchers and traders are not supplying the information that is required, and that there is need to have some compulsory methods? In view of that, why have the powers not been used? Why are we so kind to the people who are refusing to give this information?

I think it quite likely that the White Fish Authority may decide to invoke Section 11 in connection with its present sampling arrangements.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the present situation with regard to myxomatosis among rabbits.

An account of the spread of the disease during 1954 was published in the Second Report of the Advisory Committee on Myxomatosis. The disease continues to spread steadily.

Has the Minister heard of the many reports that foxes are now raiding poultry runs? Can he say whether foxes are now creating a big problem in poultry keeping or whether this is merely a rumour?

I think the hon. Member will recollect that I answered a Question on that point last week. Additional damage from foxes was to be expected. What has surprised us is how little positive evidence we have had that the additional damage has been as widespread as we expected.

Can the Minister tell us whether it is intended to have definite clearance areas to exterminate this pest altogether in certain parts of the country?

I think my hon. Friend is referring to rabbits. If he is referring to rabbits, that is the intention following the passage of the Pests Act.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether the cases of hares dying of myxomatosis in Britain have been investigated and confirmed by his Department.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether his attention has been drawn to the case of a hare contracting myxomatosis; and whether he will have this case investigated and confirmed.

The Veterinary Laboratory at Weybridge has confirmed that the car case of a hare recently found in Northern Ireland was affected with myxomatosis.

Have there been any cases in England, Wales, or Scotland which have been confirmed?

I know of no confirmed cases of myxomatosis in hares other than this one in Northern Ireland, except on the Continent.

May we take it from my right hon. Friend's reply that his Department will follow up any reports of this kind, so that they may be confirmed or denied?

Yes, with the greatest interest and vigour.

Have there been any cases in this country of other animals besides rabbits having myxomatosis? One hears that badgers sometimes get it. Is that true?

No. There has been no case, to our knowledge, involving any animals other than rabbits and this one hare in Northern Ireland.

asked the Minister of Agriculture when he will give sanction for the construction of a sugar-beet factory for the use of Hampshire and adjoining counties.

I have nothing to add to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr. Hurd) on 24th November last.

Is the Minister aware that his answer of 24th November was found by the National Farmers' Union to be very unsatisfactory? Would not the erection of such a beet factory improve the fodder situation and also the rotation of crops, secure a lessening of transport charges and a saving of dollars? In view of those facts, will the right hon. Gentleman look at the matter again?

If the hon. Member looks back to the answer which I gave on that occasion, I think he will find that I did say I was sorry to have to reach this decision, but I also gave the reasons why I felt I had to reach it, and I am afraid that those reasons still hold good.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will publish, or make available to interested parties, the reports of commissioners appointed to conduct public inquiries under the Agricultural Marketing Acts.

It has always been the practice for these reports to be confidential.

Does my right hon. Friend appreciate that, unless the reports are made available to the parties, they cannot be satisfied that the facts and arguments put forward by them have been correctly appreciated; secondly, that the authoritative Donoughmore Committee recommended that this type of report should be made available, and that to withhold it would be a denial of natural justice; thirdly, that the present system causes profound dissatisfaction among those affected by the inquiries? Will he look again at this matter?

I will bear in mind the points made by my hon. and learned Friend.

Have any representations been made to the right hon. Gentleman, either from the National Farmers' Union or from any consumers' organisation, requesting the publication of these reports?

To the best of my knowledge, I believe not.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will now outline the arrangements agreed between the Government and the National Farmers' Union for financing the price guarantee if farmers proceed with an egg marketing scheme.

It has been agreed that if an egg marketing scheme providing for a board possessing full trading powers were established, the price guarantee would take the form of a flat-rate subsidy payable on eggs sold through packing stations at a rate per dozen determined in the light of each year's Annual Review. The subsidy would be varied only if producers' average returns were appreciably different from those expected when the subsidy was fixed, and in that case the excess or deficiency would be shared between producers and the Exchequer.

As the British housewife now relies on the home poultry industry for four out of five eggs in the shops, and imports are running at a low level, will my right hon. Friend say whether this proposal allows for the maintenance of a high level of egg output here and scope for increase?

I should be very disappointed indeed if the effect were not to encourage the continuation of a high level of home production of eggs.

Can my right hon. Friend give any indication of the probable time-table which may be followed in the production of this scheme?

I am afraid I cannot because it depends, at first, on whether producers decide to promote a scheme. If so, the ordinary procedure laid down under the Marketing Acts would have to be gone through.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what further progress has been made in the discussions regarding a permanent scheme for the marketing of eggs.

As I said in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Aitken) on 26th January, discussions have led to agreement on financial arrangements for implementing the Agriculture Act guarantees on eggs through a marketing board. It is now for representatives of producers to decide whether they wish to submit a scheme under the Agricultural Marketing Acts, and I understand that proposals are under consideration by the farmers' unions.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his predecessor at the Ministry of Food abolished the egg subsidy, that in spite of this the Supplementary Estimate shows that the present subsidy is running at over £2 million above the record level of last year, and that when the egg subsidy was abolished the Minister dismantled the machinery for administering it? Will the right hon. Gentleman do something to save us from the awful mess in which his predecessor left us, and will he expedite the orderly marketing and administering of the subsidy for eggs?

I am not aware that I am under any handicap whatever in administering satisfactorily the present deficiency payment and support-price arrangements for eggs.

Will my right hon. Friend try to find out from hon. Members opposite whether they like subsidies or whether they do not?

asked the Minister of Agriculture when he will attend the Special Ministerial Committee of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation for Agriculture and Food.

I hope to attend the Committee's first meeting on 8th March.

Will the right hon. Gentleman inform me if we are to have a special representative on the committee of deputies which will assist the Committee?

As the hon. Member knows, this matter has only reached a very early stage yet and the first meeting will be of the Ministers concerned.

asked the Minister of Agriculture his proposals to provide adequate credit facilities for farmers.

I am ready to consider most carefully any suggestions put to me, but so far I am not satisfied that a case for new proposals in this field has been made out.

Is the Minister aware that in the miserable document, the Tory "Agricultural Charter," specific proposals were laid down, and it was said that a Tory Government would provide special cheap credit facilities for farmers? The Chancellor of the Exchequer—at a farmers' dinner three years ago—just before his Budget, also promised action. When are we to have some action?

I am quite sure that if we were satisfied that the present facilities were not adequate action would follow. It is just that point about which I am far from satisfied at present. The facilities available at the moment are quite varied.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that small farmers are facing great difficulties through increases in the price of machinery, spare parts, fertilisers, and so on? There is hardship. Ought not the Government to look at this matter very quickly?

I should be very grateful if the hon. Member would bring to my attention any case in which he feels that facilities are not available.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in 1931 I made a proposal in this House for an agricultural credit bank, which was supported by some hon. Members of the Tory Party?

I had not the good fortune to be present in this House at that time.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will consult the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a view to advice being issued to the banks for the provision of credit facilities for small farmers.

No, Sir. I am sure the banks do not need such advice.

Is the Minister not aware that the Government's dear money policy has borne hard upon small farmers and still does so? Will he consult the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation to give farmers easier and cheaper facilities in what is becoming a difficult time for small farmers?

I am keeping, and will keep, in very close touch with the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation. If we can find anything further that we can usefully do to extend the Corporation's activities, I shall give the matter very careful consideration.

Has my right hon. Friend any evidence whatsoever that any difficulty is experienced by worth-while farmers in getting all the credit they require from the banks?

I should be very disturbed if I thought there was.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if, in view of the Government's support of the decisions of the Paris Conference, July, 1954, on agricultural marketing, he will make a statement of British agricultural policy towards tariffs and import restrictions on agricultural imports.

The policy of this Government, as of the last, on tariffs and import restrictions on agricultural products must continue to be related to our obligations under the G.A.T.T., which is at present under review by the contracting parties.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the British representative at the Paris Conference in July last year, when this new organisation was set up, supported a resolution which laid down that the organisation would seek to create a common market? Indeed, in all the interim discussions there was British support, I assume by this Government, to seek the ideals of a common market. Are we to take it that the Government believe in that policy? Are they going to let down the farmers again, as they have done before?

I think the hon. Member must agree that this country has a good record in recent years on liberalisation of imports.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that a European conference two years previously decided that horticultural growers were entitled to protection in their own markets, and that was a growers' conference? Will he state the policy of Her Majesty's Government that our own growers are entitled to such protection?

I think my hon. and learned Friend will agree that what we did about a year ago in that respect is evidence of our interest.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that his Department's Report on the production and marketing of home-grown carrots reveals that 80 per cent. of the supplies marketed were below the recommended grading standard; that, largely because of better quality and grading, Dutch carrots were sold here at average prices nearly double those obtained for home-grown supplies; and if he will assist growers to improve grading and quality and find other outlets for sub-standard produce.

Four-fifths of the consignments inspected were below the recommended grades but many could have been brought up to grade by removing a small proportion of the carrots. My Department is always ready to help growers with advice on quality and grading. An alternative use for sub-standard carrots is stock feeding and I have no reason to think that any further outlet is necessary.

Is the Minister aware that a great deal of that waste could have been saved by pre-packaging and processing? Is he further aware that this valuable report refutes the suggestion which is often made that the poor prices to home growers are the direct result of imports. Also, on behalf of the housewife, will he bear this important factor in mind when any future question of tariffs arises?

I could not follow the whole argument of the hon. Member, but I agree with the first part of his supplementary question that, with a little more care in grading, we could have a higher proportion of first grade carrots.

asked the Minister of Agriculture which of the directors of the National Pig Breeders Association Progency Testing Research Company Limited he intends to appoint to be members of the independent authority which he is setting up to control the pig progeny testing stations.

The method of constituting the governing body of the progeny testing stations is at present being discussed with representatives of producers, breeders, and others concerned. Decisions have not yet been reached.

Can my right hon. Friend give any indication as to what position this company is likely to occupy in the scheme of things? There is a feeling among breeders that the way in which the company was set up by the National Pig Breeders Association was rather secretive. Can my right hon. Friend say whether it will have a part to play in the scheme of things, or not?

The company which I am talking about is the new company to be set up to run the progeny testing stations. It will be a non-profit-making company, and there will be representatives of the various interests concerned, including representatives appointed directly by the Ministers, on the governing body.

When the Minister is discussing with the N.P.B.A. the constitution of this board, will he also discuss the possibility of appointing pig producers to the committee which is to advise him on bacon production, which at present has on it no representative of the N.P.B.A.?

I will look into that point, but it is a separate question.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will consult with the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation with a view to devising a scheme which would enable the war-time concrete roads in the Fens to be taken over by the highway authority.

With my right hon. Friend's agreement, I am in touch with the County Councils' Association on the problem of the maintenance of these roads.

While it is very welcome news that at least a move is being made, will my right hon. Friend remember that this is a long-standing problem, that these roads are deteriorating rapidly, and that an urgent move is required? Will he particularly consider whether it is possible to classify any lengths of these roads so that help may be given to get them maintained?

I agree with my hon. Friend that this is a difficult problem and that it has been with us for some time. I will look into the point which he raised in the second half of his supplementary question.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the estimated percentage increase in cost of farm machinery replacements for 1952, 1953, 1954, and 1955, respectively.

I regret that I am unable to give exact figures but such information as is available indicates that there has been very little change in the prices of tractors and other farm machinery over the period in question.

Is the Minister aware that farmers in the county of Warwickshire find that these costs are a heavy burden, and form a large part of the year's overheads? Will he do something on the lines of forming an agricultural credit bank, as suggested by my right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Mr. T. Williams), to help the farmers in these difficult times?

On the question of the price of this machinery, my information is that since 1952 prices have increased by only about 1 or 2 per cent.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what allowance was made for increased farming efficiency in connection with the Special Price Review necessitated by the recent increase in the minimum wages of farmworkers.

The recent Special Review added some £4 million, on account of wage changes, to the guarantees originally determined at the 1954 Annual Review, when account was taken of the relevant efficiency changes. The assessment of changes in farming efficiency that have taken place during the current year is a matter for the Annual Review now proceeding, which relates to the 1956 crops and to livestock products during 1955–56.

Is the Minister aware that the present award is apparently full recoupment for the wage increase? If it were to be thought that there was to be automatic recoupment for wage increases, it would react very much against the men when they apply to the Wages Board for further wage increases. Will the Minister make it clear, therefore, that in no case can recoupment of wage increases in this way be regarded as automatic?

I do not disagree in general with what the hon. Member has said. In this case, full recoupment was given because the rising efficiency factor had been taken into consideration in the Annual Review.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will include in the committee to be set up by his Department to inquire into horticultural marketing someone fully conversant with the needs of the Cornish industries of broccoli, new potatoes, and flowers.

The committee will, of course, be concerned with the needs of the Cornish industries, but the members will be independent persons of general experience and will not be appointed for their connection with any particular aspects of horticulture or horticultural trades.

Will the Minister bear in mind that his reply will be very disappointing to horticulturists in Cornwall, because at the moment they are facing extreme difficulty, and there is danger of these important and independent small producers being forced out of production altogether? Will the right hon. Gentleman really do something about it?

I am sure that when the hon. Member's Cornish friends consider the matter they will not be at all disappointed with what I have said, because this inquiry is being appointed for exactly that kind of reason.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how the amount of lime applied to farm land during the past year compares with the use in previous years; and how far the results of soil tests made by the National Agricultural Advisory Service show that, generally, enough lime is being applied where it is needed on tillage ground and grassland.

Liming materials used on farmland in the United Kingdom averaged about 5½ million tons in the five years 1949–53. In 1953, nearly 6½ million tons were used, and in 1954 nearly 5 million tons. There is still a considerable lime deficiency taking the country as a whole, but progress is being made in reducing it.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the estimated current rate of pig production compared with last year.

Forthe year ending 31st May, 1955, it is estimated at 720,000 tons of pigmeat compared with 606,000 tons a year earlier. These estimates, which relate to the United Kingdom, include production for domestic consumption.

Are we to take it from that reply that the present state of pig production is not, in the Minister's view, excessive, although it has meant a big Supplementary Estimate? Will the Minister also say that it is not his intention, by cutting the subsidies, to penalise these pig producers for producing more pigmeat? I ought to add that I have an interest in this matter.

I too have a very great interest in this matter. I repeat what I have said several times in the last six months—that the number of pigs produced during the latter part of last year were not more than I was glad to see in the country as a whole, but that any further increase in the numbers must be accompanied by some reduction in costs.

What is the Minister doing to encourage an increase of curing capacity to meet the increased number of bacon pigs available this year?

I think that the industry concerned is well able to assess that position and to take whatever action is necessary.

How does my right hon. Friend expect prices to go down when the cost of feedingstuffs is constantly increasing?

Feedingstuffs are not the only factor in the situation. If my hon. and gallant Friend looks at the position, I think that he will be quite impressed by the variation in the cost of production between one producer and another.

asked the Minister of Labour his estimate of the increased manpower necessary to carry out the modernisation of the railways, the increase in school and hospital building and the completion of the new road schemes, all of which projects will run concurrently; and how he proposes to obtain such manpower.

In view of the increasing efficiency of the building and civil engineering industry, I see no reason to suppose that the programmes referred to, which will be spread over a period of years, will impose any undue burden on the industry. As regards demands for electrical equipment and diesel locomotives, the Transport Commission has announced that it will give advance notice of its annual programmes, and if it should appear that the labour requirements may be difficult to meet, my Department will be glad to co-operate with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned in considering any measures that may be necessary.

Is the Minister aware that, in addition to the projects which are mentioned in the Question, the Chancellor has now told us that we must step up our exports pretty drastically, and that there has also been an announcement on atomic energy stations? If we cannot know at this stage, when there is a shortage of manpower, how it is planned to carry out these projects simultaneously, is the hon. Gentleman aware that there may be people who will think that all these things are mere kite flying for the next General Election?

We are looking into this matter very carefully. One example of how modern machinery affects this kind of problem is that after looking very carefully into the road programme we take the view that it will need only about 16,000 men out of the 1,200,000 employed in the building and contracting industries.

asked the Minister of Labour (1) to make a statement about future policy in relation to the Remploy Scheme;

The policy in relation to Remploy is that it should be given time to consolidate its trading position, and reduce the loss per head, before embarking on further expansion. In the current financial year, 812 severely disabled workers were taken on. For next financial year I fear that the number taken on will have to be smaller if the company is to have the chance to consolidate its position and to provide a sound basis for future expansion within reasonable limits of expenditure.

Is the hon. Gentleman seriously telling the House that in this time of much-vaunted Tory prosperity we cannot afford to maintain as many disabled men in employment under the Remploy Scheme next year as we have in employment at present? Would he tell us why this quite obviously new change of policy in refusing to take new entrants has not been announced to the House before, in view of the great interest which the House has taken in this matter ever since the pioneering work of the late Mr. George Tomlinson?

I quite agree that the whole House takes great interest in the very human problems with which Remploy is concerned. I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising this matter and thus affording me an opportunity to give some information to the House. The job of Remploy is to employ as many severely disabled persons as it possibly can. Last year, in the course of this laudable ambition, it seriously outran its expenditure. I want to make it plain that there is no question of cutting down the amount of money spent on Remploy. All that is happening at the moment is that the normal wastage of about 600 to 700 a year is allowed to go on, to run down the numbers slightly so that Remploy can get into a reasonable financial balance.

Shocking.

Is this not a retrograde step? Are we boggling at the cost of giving some humane treatment to these men, when at the time the Act was passed during the war it was understood that it was going to cost money but that it was obviously a gain to the welfare of the men, in making them self-reliant, and a satisfaction to their families? Is the argument now that we cannot afford to do this?

I do not disagree with the right hon. Gentleman at all, but perhaps I can give two other facts. The first is that the policy which I have now enunciated was not taken by this Administration. It was quite rightly taken in 1949 by the right hon. Gentleman himself. The second point is that the present loss per head per week on every severely disabled man employed is nearly £8, or £400 a year. What we, or rather Remploy, hoped was that the increased activity which Remploy has undertaken would bring that loss down. If the loss were brought down, more men could be employed. Unfortunately, the loss has not come down, and that is why this quite temporary adjustment is to take place until we get into a fair balance again.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that every contribution that a Remploy person makes towards production is a net contribution to the resources of the State, and that if the disabled worker is idle, doing nothing at all, we lose the benefit of that contribution? Is he not also aware that every Minister of Labour has always had to resist the Treasury in this respect, and that we regret very much that the present Minister has not resisted Treasury pressure more successfully?

I know that the right hon. Gentleman took great interest in Remploy, as did his predecessors, and as his successors have done. There is no question of reducing the amount spent on Remploy. In fact, next year it will be larger than it is this year, but there must be an attempt, for the sake of the men themselves, to try to get this thing on a reasonable balance. [HON. MEMBERS: "Nonsense."] A loss of £8 per man per week is a very large loss and is one which the Board itself hoped to be able to reduce last year.

As it must be perfectly obvious to any businessman, let alone to a politician, that nobody can hope to run Remploy on strictly commercial lines, could not a great deal more be done to have the production of Remploy absorbed by Government and civil departments?

That is a very good suggestion. I can add—and Remploy has authorised me to say this—that Remploy has itself asked the Organisation and Methods Division of the Treasury to see if it can help it.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons declared redundant in Remploy factories since 1st January.

No severely disabled production workers have been declared redundant by the Board of Remploy Limited, but as a result of steps taken to reduce overheads 226 administrative and staff workers not engaged on production have been declared redundant: 11 of these are severely disabled and have been offered employment on production.

Will the hon. Gentleman agree that, as a result of these redundancies, there will be considerable subsequent redundancies among disabled workers, and that this declaration of a change of policy will decrease the numbers by probably as many as 750 during the coming year? Would the hon. Gentleman not look at the other side of the organisation of Remploy, and pay attention to the Report of the Select Committee, and also in particular to the sales side of the company? Will the hon. Gentleman accept this as a social service to provide the largest possible amount of employment for disabled people?

Later, I am answering a Question on sales, but perhaps I might tell the hon. Gentleman that in the year March, 1953, to April, 1954, Remploy took on an extra 270 fit men, so it is not actually discharging all the extra men it took on last year.

Why does not the hon. Gentleman "come clean" to the House and admit that he was not willing to state, until pressed in the House this afternoon, that the policy of the Government is to employ about 750 fewer disabled workers next year as compared with this year? If he wants some help in cutting down administrative overheads he should consult the union most concerned, and it will tell him how to do it.

I do not know which union that would be. I do not think it would be A.S.S.E.T. if that is the union the right hon. Gentleman has in mind, but we should be delighted to have any help from anyone who can give it.

asked the Minister of Labour by how many the number of disabled persons employed at Remploy factories will be reduced during 1955.

asked the Minister of Labour, how many key workers are being dismissed by Remploy Limited; and for what reason.

While I understand that Remploy Limited expects to employ an average of about 6,000 severely disabled workers during 1955 in its factories and as home workers as compared with the present number of about 6,380, this will be achieved by the non-replacement of wastage and not by the discharge of disabled workers.

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the estimate I have received is between 700 and 900, but in any case, whether it is 400 or 700, will he or his right hon. and learned Friend, in view of the interest that has been shown in this subject, undertake to review and reconsider it?

Certainly. I met the board of Remploy only last week to discuss this matter, and we shall keep it most closely under review.

asked the Minister of Labour how many disabled persons who have received training are on the waiting list for admission to Remploy factories; how many vacancies there are at present for such persons; and the usual waiting period.

Severely disabled persons are not given training as a preliminary to admission to Remploy factories. Vacancies at a factory are filled as they arise from among the severely disabled registered at employment exchanges in the district concerned, and no waiting lists are compiled.

If there are any vacancies will it not be a fact that those vacancies will represent an increase in overheads and, therefore, more costly production?

asked the Minister of Labour the proportion of able-bodied workers, exclusive of instructors and fore man, to disabled people employed at Remploy factories; and how far disabled people are occupying the positions of instructors or foremen.

I cannot separate the figures for foremen and instructors but only those for all the supervisory, maintenance, and auxiliary staff. Of these, 260, or 16 per cent., are disabled. All workers not in these classes are severely disabled.

asked the Minister of Labour whether the demand for Remploy products is increasing or decreasing; and if he will give the reason for the change.

I understand that Remploy sales are likely to be at a higher rate in this financial year than in earlier years. It is difficult to forecast whether the level of future demand will keep pace with the increased costs of expanding production.

Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that, for example, paper box and cardboard manufacture is carried on by Remploy at a profit? Why is it not possible to develop this side of the work, and continue to employ large numbers of ex-Service men who are anxious to obtain employment with Remploy?

The difficulty really is that unfortunately the more men Remploy employs and the more business it does, the greater the loss that is made.

asked the Minister of Labour, in view of the disclosures in the Medical Research Council Report on the lethal effects of cadmium poisoning in a factory at Prescot, Lancashire, what urgent steps he will now take to protect the workers at that and associated factories from further cases of poisoning.

The conclusions in this Report are at present being studied on my behalf by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Factories. At the factories concerned measures, which include improvements to exhaust ventilation and closer medical supervision have already been taken with the advice of the Factory Inspectorate to protect the workers against possible harmful concentrations of cadmium fumes. The effect of these precautions will continue to be carefully watched.

While thanking the hon. Gentleman for that statement, might I ask him if he is aware that it is more than three years since I drew the attention of the Minister to this serious problem, and during that period three or four of my constituents have died as a result of cadmium poisoning, and probably a dozen in all over an earlier period; and will he intensify his efforts to make sure that no more of them die?

I certainly agree with the right hon. Gentleman that this is a most important matter. I should like to say, however, that only 14 such cases have been reported in the years 1938 to 1954, and all workers so reported recovered. But I am not trying to minimise the matter. It is most important, and I know that the right hon. Gentleman has read the valuable Report on it as I have. We will try to get some cure as quickly as we possibly can.

Does not the hon. Gentleman agree that if this has been going on for three years and was not discovered by the inspectors in his Department it reveals a very lamentable state of affairs, and that it ought to have been followed up long before this? Has he no other explanation to give to the House except that three years afterwards there is now to be a report on the matter?

That is not the position at all. The point is, as the right hon. Gentleman who raised this question knows, that there is no doubt about the toxic nature of the fumes. The difficulty is how to get an effective and reasonable cure.

On a point of order. The Parliamentary Secretary replied to my right hon. Friend the Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Bevan) and quoted me as being in support of the statement he made. I think that in fairness I ought to make it clear that that statement is not correct, and it is quite incorrect to say that I knew and could confirm what he said.

I am sorry if I misquoted the right hon. Gentleman. What I said was that I thought that we were both agreed about the importance of the toxic nature of these particular fumes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) the total amount of the contributions to the Lord Mayor's National Flood and Tempest Distress Fund; and the total of the payments so far made from this fund;

I am informed by the Chairman of the Lord Mayor's Fund that the total amount subscribed to the Fund is £5,148,763. Interest earned is £35,510. The total spent to date is £6,934,216. Public funds have been drawn on to meet the difference and there will be further calls until the work of the Fund is completed. In these circumstances no question arises of using the residue of the Fund for other purposes.

Can my right hon. and gallant Friend say whether the contribution mentioned as £5,148,000 plus interest includes the contribution of the Government.

No, subscriptions to the Fund only. The difference between that and £6,900,000 is the Government contribution.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to put the Government's proposals on the Report of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment before the House of Commons.

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the statement which I made on 10th February, to which I have at present nothing to add.

Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that in the recent debate not one word was said about the relevance of the Report to Scotland, and that his policy of complete negation is a shocking waste of time and public money spent on the Royal Commission which prepared the Report?

I would commend the hon. and learned Gentleman again to read what was said in the debate with reference to the recommendations in the Report. He will see that many of the recommendations would involve legislation. If he will look at my statement he will see that some recommendations are very controversial but many others which do not involve legislation were either going to be put into effect or had already been put into effect.

Does that mean that the right hon. and gallant Gentleman is now telling the House that the Government have rejected all the recommendations of the Royal Commission which either require legislation or are controversial?

No, Sir. I cannot now repeat my statement.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department his present plans for improving the law and practice relating to juvenile delinquents.

I understand that the hon. and learned Member is particularly interested in vocational training in approved schools, and I am sending him a Home Office Report containing information about the subject.

Will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman say what steps he is taking to diagnose the aptitudes of juvenile delinquents and to teach them appropriate, constructive trades and make good citizens of them?

The Report deals with that matter. If the hon. and learned Gentleman will look at the Report he will see what is there stated.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many county and county borough councils have not yet made arrangements for patrolling school crossings.

Seventeen, Sir.

Is the Secretary of State taking any steps to persuade authorities which have not established school patrols to do so?

Under the Statute I have no authority at all to interfere.